Examples of OAES research can be found at the Vegetable Research Station at 13711 S. Mingo, just north of the Arkansas River from Bixby. Several herb varieties are being studied there as potential alternative crops for Oklahoma growers. One of these, sage, shows promise because it is adaptable to large parts of Oklahoma. Sage is useful as a food additive, but it also has commercial value due to the fact it is high in antioxidant compounds. Scientists in OSU's Food and Agricultural Products Research and Technology Center are developing a process to pelletize sage plant material. Pelleting will make the material easier to handle and utilize. Once they have the pelleting process perfected, they will work with Bliss Engineering, an Oklahoma company, to extract the antioxidants from the plant materials.
OAES studies are being conducted at the Vegetable Research Station
evaluating the use of legumes intercropped with vegetables to
remove excess phosphorus resulting from the use of poultry litter
as fertilizer. Eastern Oklahoma produces tons of poultry litter,
which is an excellent fertilizer. However, if misapplied, it can
cause excessive algae growth in downstream waters due to high
levels of plant nutrients, such as phosphorus, being carried away
by runoff. Thus, learning how to manage it as a resource is crucial.
Working with funding from USDA's Sustainable Agricultural Research
and Education (SARE) program, OSU horticultural researchers compared
poultry litter application rates with urea. Litter was applied
at the rate recommended for the crop, and at twice the recommended
rate. A crop of spinach was planted in October, overwintered,
and harvested in April. The spinach was planted in fallow plots
and in plots that had contained the legume cowpea as a cover crop.
Although the spinach stand was reduced in plots receiving twice
the recommended rate of poultry litter, individual plants in those
plots compensated by growing larger, so yield differences were
essentially comparable. There was no noticeable reduction in soil
phosphorus at either rate.
In May, muskmelons were planted following either fallow or plots
that had a cover crop of the legume hairy vetch. The crop was
harvested at the end of July into early August, and again, no
noticeable reduction of soil phosphorus was evident. However,
considerable residual nitrogen remained in the soil containing
the vetch. Even though the researchers designed the fertilization
rates to balance on vetch versus fallow plots, nitrogen concentrations
were still higher from soil producing melons and vetch than from
plots which laid fallow. Changes in plant element concentrations
in the soil are still being monitored to take a longer-term look
at the results.
Soybean performance nurseries were planted at eight locations,
including the Bixby Vegetable Research Station. Four years of
data indicate that Group IV varieties perform better than Group
III varieties in early season tests (planted in early April, and
harvested in September). The variety Manokin averaged 10 bushels
an acre more than the second highest yielding variety in this
test. Manokin also proved to be the highest yielding variety in
Group IV full-season tests. Manokin planted in mid-June yielded
two bushels per acre more than Manokin planted in early April.
Top Group V varieties included Holladay, Hutcheson, 9584, and
Forrest. Top Group VI varieties included Brim, Bryan, Leflore,
and Sohoma. Stonewall, Choska, Thomas, and Dillon performed well
at some locations.
Data from long-term experiments at Bixby and at Haskell indicated
that the three-crop, two-year management system produced more
total soybeans over a five-year period than either monocropped
or doublecropped soybeans.
A soybean experiment to evaluate the effects of delayed harvest
on seed quality was initiated in 1997. Regional Group IV, V, and
VI and Preliminary Group V and VI nurseries were grown at the
Bixby location. Several of these lines appear to have potential
for Oklahoma, and some of the OSU-developed lines in these nurseries
performed well.